Marijuana plants are sold at a grow house in Denver, where marijuana has been legalized. Richard Wendel advocates the legalization of all banned drugs.

To decrease the number of robberies to buy drugs, homicides related to territorial disputes and to curb a huge subterranean economy anchored in drug money, why not legalize banned addictive drugs altogether?

There are 1.5 million drug arrests each year and more imprisoned inmates for drug offenses than all violent criminals combined. Moreover, the Drug Enforcement Administration has about 10,000 agents and support staff who could be fighting real crime and terrorism.

William F. Buckley Jr., the conservative pundit who founded the National Review magazine, was one of the first to advocate legalizing illegal drugs. Certainly, history bears testimony to the fact that no efforts have been successful in preventing the cultivation or manufacture of illegal mind-altering substances and all interdiction efforts have failed to stop the inflow of illegal drugs through our porous borders.

Meanwhile, drug money and drug trafficking have bred gangs and gang warfare in all major cities. Killings occur each year in many countries across the globe and the illegality of drug usage has prevented many addicts from seeking treatment.

Perhaps it is time for law enforcement to give up and call in the dogs. The U.S. government could economically manufacture, regulate, test, monitor and tax illegal drugs. The first measurable result would be a decrease in deaths from overdose due to varying purity of these products. With the tax revenues, the government could launch a comprehensive program of education and rehabilitation. It certainly would be cheaper than policing the violent crimes related to drugs and incarcerating millions of drug dealers and nonviolent users.

Extensive drug testing in the workplace would be a major force in controlling drug use by employees. Random drug testing could become a routine. Few workers want to work side-by-side with drug users as the effects of these agents increase work risks and absenteeism as well as decrease productivity. Mandated treatment for addicted pregnant females would need to be imposed.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has had remarkable success in curtailing drunk driving and traffic offenses due to illegal drugs. The legislative battles over the recreational use of marijuana are similar to those during the Prohibition era. Marijuana has fewer societal costs than cigarette smoking; why not offer cheap cannabis to take drug money and cartels out of the mix, standardize the product, and track and tax it?

Some would argue that cheap, legalized drugs would cause drug use and abuse to skyrocket. There might be an initial spike in drug experimentation when these substances become more affordable. But the side effects and hangovers from these substances are so devastating and unpleasant that I believe it would be a short-lived spike.

A massive education campaign about the health and social effects of these lethal substances would be a critical centerpiece of such legislation and so would enhanced medical programs to treat and counsel addicts. Cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine destroy lives. An informed individual is not powerless to just say no or quit, if already addicted, when an accessible rehabilitation program is in place.

With this societal re-engineering, I feel certain there would be many unintended consequences that are difficult to predict.

One positive consequence is that the FDA or a similar agency would research these drugs to begin to understand their effect on the human body and perhaps derive new medications for the treatment of medical illnesses. Certainly, it would decrease the crime rate and devastate the internecine drug culture.

Our society continues to grapple with addiction to legal prescription drugs. In the health marketplace, leading edge information technology is poised to better track medications and prescribing behaviors and I think the abuse of and street market for pain killers will become less of a problem in the future.

In a more perfect world, there should be better solutions, but all else has failed dismally and it may be time to throw in the towel and search for less punitive solutions.

One thing is certain: You must be able to nullify drug money if you are going to make inroads in solving the drug problem. ■

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OPINION: One way to reduce crime: Legalize banned drugs

To decrease the number of robberies to buy drugs, homicides related to territorial disputes and to curb a huge subterranean economy anchored in drug money, why not legalize banned addictive drugs